All roads lead home.
Creative Staff:
Story: Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner
Art: Moritat
Colors: Sal Monaco
Letterer: Dave Sharpe
What They Say:
Sonja, Zaria, and Edward make the final run for the coast to return the Princess back to her homeland, but can they escape an army of killers, a stampede of monsters, and a bounty hunter bent on delivering Sonja’s head for a promise of wealth?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With a lot of years of reading works by Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner, we hit the penultimate installment of this storyline – still listed as a first storyline, thankfully – and it’s playing to almost an epilogue kind of feel but with a bit more to it than that since there’s one more fight to go. The evolution of the story has taken us to all kinds of places but we’ve built up such an interesting group of characters across it that it’s thoroughly engaging. It’s all laid out in a way that allows for Moritat to shine even more than usual. His talent is not wasted here as we move across the lands, deal with some great characters, and put Sonja in positions where expressiveness is key. The end result is a really richly detailed book that has a ton going for it in making these places and characters engaging and alive in so many ways.
With a bit of a gap between issues, getting into this one is fairly easy overall because it has Sonja up against a tough baddie in Tezzah’s “son” and all. With a stone-like body that gives him a natural armor, she’s having a hard fight but still enjoying it in a way that only she can. There’s some good back and forth with her taking some serious hits along the way to keep it exciting. But when she basically allows herself to be partially gobbled up by him so she can start cutting him up from the inside, it’s pure classic Sonja, right down to her following through quickly and without much preamble to beheading Tezzah herself. Which, hilariously enough, has the populace rejoicing and proclaiming Sonja as their new ruler. Suffice to say, this isn’t the first time she’s ended up in this situation so it’s no surprise that she handles it well by simply enjoying the fruits of the potential for a night with copious food and drink.
The book gives us some good stuff after that with Sonja deciding on who the new ruler should be, with Tuma being an obvious choice as he wants to make a positive mark on the world, and it helps to settle their romantic involvement as well. She also goes through a big change here in getting some new garb with a woven metal top that will surely frustrate some fans, especially with the hot pants shorts she’s now wearing as well. But with a new blade in hand, she’s able to get a ship that over a couple of weeks will take her, Zaria, and Ederik to Zaria’s kingdom at long last and bring the journey to a conclusion. It plays well with a lot of drinking and silliness along the way, and some serious conversations on Zaria’s part about doing right by Sonja, but there has to be one last big test left for them to face upon arrival.
In Summary:
I’m excited to see how the team wraps up this storyline in the next issue. They’ve worked this over ten issues in a really great way so that there’s a lot of build-up to events, characters that we’re committed to and understand at this point, and a journey that has bonded us even closer with them as a whole. With it starting to whittle away at that because in the end it must be Sonja on her own once again, there are some expected elements but they unfold well and make sense for all. Sonja is an absolute delight throughout this and Moritat’s artwork is generally fantastic, though there are a few panels that made me cringe. I loved his stuff with her looking out over the city, for example. I’m excited to see how they bring it to a close and what Zaria’s future will be, and then to see where Sonja goes next. Really great Sonja storytelling here.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 15+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: June 8th, 2022
MSRP: $3.99
